East River Road Historic District II
Why it's listed
Five grand estate houses line the north side of East River Road beside the Maumee River near Perrysburg, Ohio. Built between about 1915 and 1940, they began as summer places for Toledo families and became year-round homes after World War I. Each reflects a different fashionable style: an Italianate villa, a half-timbered Tudor house, a French Renaissance Revival mansion, a second Tudor-style house and a Colonial Revival house with Federal-style outbuildings. Toledo, Cleveland and New York architects and landscape designers shaped them. Their original owners included glass-industry pioneers, lawyers and a Champion Spark Plug executive, people tied to companies such as Libbey-Owens-Ford and Owens-Illinois. The district was listed because it records the wealth of Toledo's industrial leaders and because so many palatial country estates were grouped so closely together. The houses remain private residences and are described as largely unchanged from their original appearance.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district shows the economic peak reached by Toledo's industrial and legal leaders, including figures tied to Libbey-Owens-Ford, Owens-Illinois and Champion Spark Plug. It also notes the unusual concentration of palatial country estates in one place, and the group's range of period revival styles. The estates are described as reminders of Toledo's growth as a major commercial center.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 76001550, listed November 21, 1976. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 577 E. Front St. to 28589 E. River Rd., Perrysburg and |
|---|---|
| County | Wood County |
| Listed | November 21, 1976 |
| Reference number | 76001550 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | C. 1915-1940 |
| Architect / builder | George Rheinfrank; Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff; George L. Walling; Harry W. Wachter, assisted by Thomas Best and Horace Wachter; Olmstead Brothers, Ellen Shipman and Arthur Berger (landscape); Alfred Hopkins (outbuildings); Helen Irwin (interiors) |
| Architectural style | Italianate villa adaptation, Tudor/Jacobethan Revival, French Renaissance Revival, Colonial Revival and Federal (outbuildings) |
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | All five houses are privately owned and used as residences; the form says they remain remarkably unchanged from their original appearance. |
| Acreage | 45 |
| Coordinates | 41.56582, -83.61838 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 76001550.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.